| Abstract: | 30 depressed and 30 nondepressed undergraduate women, assigned to categories on the basis of their scores on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and a short form of the MMPI, interacted with experimental accomplices who played various interpersonal roles during a laboratory procedure involving "cooperative problem-solving." The roles enacted were critical–competitive, supportive–cooperative, and helpless–dependent. Ss' conversational behaviors, written communications, and postencounter evaluations were analyzed as a function of the personal style portrayed by the accomplice. Results indicate that depressed Ss communicated relatively high levels of self-devaluation, sadness, helplessness, and general negative content to all accomplice roles. The critical–competitive role elicited greater extrapunitiveness among depressives than normal Ss and the helpless–dependent role elicited a greater number of negative self-statements among depressives than normal Ss. Findings are discussed in relation to interactional concepts of depressives' social functioning. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
